title: Serum uric acid level is associated with the development of microalbuminuria in Korean men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elevated serum uric acid (UA) could be a risk factor for hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. In addition, elevated serum UA may be associated with impaired renal function. However, it is unclear whether elevated serum UA is a cause of microalbuminuria or not. Therefore, we performed a prospective cohort study of the temporal relationship between baseline elevated serum UA and the development of microalbuminuria in Korean men.
  
  
  METHODS
  A microalbuminuria-free cohort of 1743 healthy Korean men, who had their urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) calculated for a medical check-up programme in 2005, was followed until 2010. Microalbuminuria was defined as a urine albumin-creatinine ratio between 30 and 300 μg/mg. Cox proportional hazards model was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 5884.6 person-years of follow-up, 96 incident cases of microalbuminuria developed between 2006 and 2010. After adjusting for multiple covariates, the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for incident microalbuminuria when comparing the second tertile to the third tertile of serum UA levels vs. the first tertile were 1.52 (0.86-2.70) and 2.27 (1.30-3.98), respectively (P for trend = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated serum UA level was independent risk factor for the development of microalbuminuria during a 5-year follow-up in Korean men.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Registration & Statistics Branch, National Cancer Control Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea; Departments of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang-Mo
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Sung Keun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jae-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ryoo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D044466:Asian People; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000097:blood*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014527:Uric Acid; D003404:Creatinine
keywords: Albuminuria; cohort studies; microalbuminuria; uric acid; urine albumin-creatinine ratio